


Within Six Days of Christmas

by PontiusHermes



Category: James Bond (Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Cards, Christmas Eve, Death, Espionage, Gen, Sadness, Spies & Secret Agents, Sweet, Work, non-romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 11:52:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8666443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PontiusHermes/pseuds/PontiusHermes
Summary: Christmas fic.M has to deal with tragedy at Christmas time.





	

It had been a very hard week. Three agents killed in two separate incidents, all three within six days of Christmas. Mallory could not begin to imagine how hard that must be for the families. Two of the deceased had never married; Mallory felt he had somehow cheated them out of that, and the third was divorced. Intimate attachments were hard to maintain in their line of work, but all of them had some relations that Mallory had had to write to.

It did not feel like Christmas. There are no holidays in National Security; Christmas eve found two thirds of offices still filled. Some departments had put up a few Christmas decorations, but in light of recent events people found their very cheerfulness difficult to look at. Disrespectful, garish.

Mallory had finished his stack of paperwork; the only remaining chore was to read half a dozen Christmas cards. Which was truly a chore, because they were sent not by people who wished him well, but by people who wanted to ingratiate themselves with him, people who did not want to be forgotten, who might be looking for a promotion.

After five cards worth of flattery, subtle self-promotion and sterile, clichéd greetings, Mallory was more than ready to go home. Only one more card, and he would be free. For a few hours, until the next national tragedy. The last card was the smallest, with a short but refreshingly sincere message. Mallory had to smile at Tanner's brevity, an affectionate smile.

_Merry Christmas, Sir._   
_I wish you a happy New Year._

_Tanner_

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> Pontius


End file.
